Call for Papers: Reading the '1979 Moment' in the Middle East

February 10, 2017

Dear colleagues,

We are pleased to invite scholars to submit abstracts for a workshop entitled "Reading the '1979 Moment' in the Middle East" that will be held on June 15 – 16, 2017 at the Forum Transregionale Studien (Wallotstraße 14, 14193 Berlin).

The workshop is convened by Amir Moosavi (EUME Fellow of the VolkswagenStiftung/Andrew W. Mellon Foundation 2016/17) and focuses on the year 1979, a year that looms large in the recent history of the Middle East. While some historians and scholars of politics in the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia have begun to recognize the recent regional transformation relating to 1979, scholars of cultural production have largely ignored the fact that the material conditions for cultural production throughout the region also changed dramatically in 1979 and the two decades that followed, reflecting a new sociopolitical reality. This two-day, interdisciplinary workshop will address this lacuna by exploring the cultural and intellectual legacy, broadly conceived, of the Middle East’s ‘1979 moment’ and its aftermath. We invite papers that explore the cultural and intellectual reactions and changes surrounding the decline of leftist and the rise of Islamist political movements in this region that occurred in and around the year 1979. We particularly encourage papers that explore comparative perspectives between Middle Eastern intellectual trends, languages and cultures, as well as comparative approaches that look beyond the region.

The workshop is funded through a grant by the VolkswagenStiftung/Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. It is part of the activities of Europe in the Middle East—The Middle East in Europe (EUME), and held in cooperation with “Figures of Thought | Turning Points. Cultural Practices and Social Change in the Arab World”, a research project at the Center for Near and Middle Eastern Studies (CNMS) at Philipps-Universität Marburg.

The deadline for submissions is March 17, 2017. Please send an abstract (max. 300 words) and a brief biographical note to eume@trafo-berlin.de. Participants invited for presentation will have a version of their paper published online on the TRAFO blog, a blog for Transregional Research, and may have the option to publish their papers in an edited print/open access format as well. Funding is available to cover the costs of accommodation and travel for a limited number of participants. Thus, participants are encouraged to secure complementary funding for travel if their home institution offers this option.

Please find the Call for Papers attached as PDF file.

We would be happy if you would consider to send in an abstract if the theme relates to your research interests.

Sincerely,Georges Khalil

Europa im Nahen Osten – Der Nahe Osten in EuropaEurope in the Middle East – The Middle East in Europe